Old Habits Resurface
by Mockingbird917
Summary: Kurama encounters a demon who seems to have some strange powers which have an interesting affect on him. Language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

Yusuke yawned slowly. He shifted his weight in the uncomfortable chair he was sitting in as he glanced over to the small demon sitting on the room's only windowsill. He wondered if Hiei knew why they were there. Hiei was not facing him, but Yusuke doubted the demon's face would tell him anything anyway.

Hiei had shown up at Yusuke's house about an hour ago saying that Koenma wanted to see them. The two had then hurried to the demon world and had been waiting in the simple stone room outside Koenma's office since. 

"This is pointless," the spirit detective complained loudly. "I'm so glad we rushed over here so we could wait for an hour," he said sarcastically.

Hiei turned and regarded the human dispassionately for a moment before turning back to look out the window. _Great_, Yusuke thought, _at least I'm stuck with a great conversationalist like Hiei_.

He turned his head when he heard the scrap of Koenma's heavy door opening. They stood as a blue oni stepped out and said, "He's waiting for you."

Yusuke followed Hiei into the small office where Koenma sat behind a colossal stack of papers. Yusuke shut the door behind them as the toddler-looking demigod got up onto his desk so that he could at least look Hiei in the eye.

"Alright you two," Koenma said around the ever present pacifier in his mouth. "Your next mission is strictly recovery in nature. I need you to find and bring back Kurama."

Hiei's eyes widened slightly and Yusuke scratched his head in confusion. "You mean, Kurama ran off?" Yusuke asked. That did not make a lot of sense. Kurama was on some sort of probation with Koenma so his movements were sure to be tracked to some extent. Also, Yusuke doubted the former thief would abandon his human mother without very good reason.

"No," Koenma said, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"You sent him somewhere," Hiei guessed quietly. He was glaring at the small demigod indifferently.

"Yes," Koenma answered. He continued to explain. "I got word of a powerful artifact that was hidden deep in an old tomb. Because of the possibility of traps, I sent Kurama. With his experience, I thought he would easily be able to retrieve the artifact."

"When?" Hiei asked.

"That was three days ago."

Yusuke's jaw dropped. "Why didn't you send someone with him? Or at least tell us what was up!" He felt irritated at being left out of the loop.

"Kurama preferred to work on his own, and there was no reason to let you know," Koenma answered defensively.

"What is this relic?" Hiei asked with an almost bored look on his face. Yusuke briefly wondered how he could stay so cool. Kurama was probably Hiei's only true friend. If he were in Hiei's place, he would be both angry and worried, but Hiei showed signs of neither. Yusuke had never really seen him concerned before, but he was not exactly shy about his anger.

"It's a silver pendant in the shape of a bat," Koenma said as he shuffled through some of the papers on his massive desk. Finally he found what he was looking for and pulled out a yellow parchment. He handed it to Yusuke.

It was obviously a page formally out of a book as most of it was covered in writing. However, Yusuke could not even make out the characters, let alone recognize the language. In the top right hand corner was a small sketch of the pendant.

It was a bat, not with its wings out spread, but tucked under as though it was clinging to a cave wall. Its delicate claws gripped the chain.

Yusuke handed the page to Hiei. His red eyes darted a quick glance before he handed the parchment back to Koenma. "Why is it valuable?"

"It's a powerful charm that some demons can use to drain reiki from humans and feed off of it," Koenma explained in an almost bored tone. "It's only recently been located, and I believe a few attempts at obtaining it have been quashed already by the tomb's guards."

"What kind of guards?" Yusuke asked. There seemed like a realm of potential problems, traps, guards as well as some competition from other treasure hunters.

"From what I understand, mindless brutes. Strong, but not too quick upstairs," Koenma answered. "Now then, Botan will take you the to the entrance of the tomb. It up to you to trace his youki from there."

"Where is Botan, anyway?" Yusuke asked as he noticed for the first time that he had not seen her since he arrived in the Makai.

"I believe," Koenma said dryly, "that you'll find her behind the door."

Hiei walked over to the door and roughly pulled it open. The blue-haired ferry girl promptly fell into the room from where she had obviously been eavesdropping, blushing and babbling profusely. 

"Get up," Hiei said, sounding rather annoyed. He never had had a long tolerance for the cheery Botan.

Botan stood, attempting to recover as much dignity as possible, and dusted off her pink kimono. "Why, Hello, Koenma sir. I was just waiting outside your door."

Koenma raised an eyebrow at that, but did not say anything.

"Egh!" Yusuke snorted impatiently. He was not one for standing around when someone he cared about was in trouble. "Can we get going some time this century?"

"Yes," Hiei agreed. "Let's go." He turned his glare to Botan again, and she quickly scooted out the door with a small, "eep."

Botan walked a few feet in front of Hiei and Yusuke as they headed out.

"Aren't you worried about Kurama?" Yusuke couldn't help asking.

One corner of the small demon's mouth actually twitched slightly in a very small smile. "Sometimes I think you forget that Kurama is one of the most powerful demons there is. No, I'm not particularly worried about the kitsune."

Sometimes Hiei could be annoyingly pragmatic. _Still_, Yusuke thought, _he had a point_. Kurama did such a good job pretending to be human that it was difficult to think of him as Youko Kurama instead of the polite Suuichi.

Yusuke smiled to himself as he and Hiei awkwardly positioned themselves on the back of Botan's oar. He was looking forward to a little action.

A/N: I'm not super sure about some of terms used in this fic so if you notice something wrong, please, please tell me so I can change it and not look like a total idiot. So, let me know what you think of this beginning. I'll probably keep updating regardless of reviews, but guilt tends to help move the creative process along. So, later.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

Hiei regarded the derelict tomb opening with mild interest. It had been fairly common for some of the more powerful demons to develop quite a following during their long lives. When they did finally die off, very elaborate tombs were often constructed to house their bones. Wards, traps, and guards were the usual par for the course.

With an annoyed sigh he turned to Yusuke. "Let's get on with this." Trust the stupid fox to lose himself in a dank, dark tomb. _Well_, Hiei thought with a wry smile to himself, _I do prefer the dark_.

The entrance to the tomb was wholly unremarkable. Hiei probably would not looked at it twice if Botan had not pointed it out to them before flying off agian. It looked like a large square trapdoor in the middle of a thickly wooded area of the Makai. A demon symbol Hiei did not quite recognize was painted in red on the wooden door.

Yusuke leaned over the door and with a grunt yanked the leather handle to it open unceremoniously. The square door pulled completely off. Rolling his eyes, Hiei said, "In the future, caution would be nice. Traps, remember?"

"I didn't pull that hard," Yusuke said scratching his neck in confusion. When he looked at the hinges still attached to the door's frame more closely, he noticed that they had been unscrewed not ripped off.

Hiei knelt to look at the frame on the ground. "It was booby-trapped," he said noting the two wires connecting the hinges to a small mechanical looking box. Clever, most demons would look for traps using spirit or demon energy but ignore the possibility of the more mundane traps. "Kurama did this."

"Ok," Yusuke said cheerfully. "If Kurama's disabled all the traps, this'll be a breeze."

"Hn," Hiei snorted. He knew he was no where near as experienced as Kurama when it came to this sort of thing and he doubted he would be able to find and avoid mechanical traps. They would just have to hope the former thief had done that for them.

Yusuke quickly dropped the broken door he was still holding and jumped down into the shadows below. Hiei flitted down next to him. The stood in the middle of an earth tunnel with the occasional torch sconce along the dirt walls. There were no torches however. Yusuke held up his hand and his forefinger began to glow with spirit energy. The tunnel flickered eerily in blue light.

Yusuke looked from side to side. From where they were standing, the tunnel led off in two directions. "Which way?" asked the spirited detective. Hiei did not answer but started walking. "How do you know?" Yusuke was not surprised by the lack of a verbal answer from the small demon.

"That's how," Hiei said, pointing to a small root growing lengthwise along the corner of the floor and wall. Looking at it closer though, Yusuke saw that it was actually a vine and not a root. "Kurama used that to keep himself from getting lost."

Hiei paused suddenly with his eyes closed. As Yusuke watched him, Hiei's headband glowed slightly. The demon frowned and opened his eyes. "Either this tomb is ridiculously deep, or Kurama is being shielded some how." _Or he got himself killed_, he thought but did not say aloud.

"Let's go," Yusuke said. The two moved steadily from that point on, occasionally having to stop to deal with wards, but otherwise the going was fairly easy. It was a good thing they had Kurama's vine to follow since the tunnels formed a veritable labyrinth.

After nearly an hour of walking, they arrived outside a huge underground hall. Yusuke whistled with an impressed look on his face. Several torches along the walls lit the room. In the middle of the hall, a stone casket sat with its cover stone pushed off. Kurama was no where to be seen.

"Now what?" Yusuke said with a hint of annoyance.

"We keep our eyes open," Hiei stated simply. "We have yet to run into any guards, remember?"

They moved deeper into the hall. Hiei felt the other presence before he actually heard it, but he allowed it to charge his seemingly vulnerable back. He dodged with ease and landed on the far end of the casket. Turning around, he saw that what had charged him was in fact a huge demon.

It was probably three times taller than Hiei with two large horns between his stupid looking eyes. The beast growled a low rumble in his throat as he turned to where Hiei now stood. Yusuke, on the other side of the hall, stepped back to allow Hiei to take the attacker on his own.

Hiei smiled to himself and drew his katana slowly. The large demon guard cocked his head to one side at the motion and threw himself into another charge. Hiei leapt straight in the air and landed easily on the demon's back as he charged. With a graceful swipe of his sword, Hiei stabbed the demon through the back of his thick neck.

The demon roared and shook himself violently. Hiei was thrown from his perch and he landed in a crouch a few yards away. With another roar, the brute turned to Hiei again. When the third charge came, Hiei was unprepared. _That was a deathblow_, he thought angrily as he tumbled awkwardly out of the way. The demon was tough, but it seemed as though his only attack plan was trying to smash him.

When the demon turned again to where Hiei now stood waiting for him, Hiei raised his sword for another attack. Suddenly several thick vines burst from the dirt floor beneath the monster and wrapped themselves around the demon's thick arms and neck.

With a gurgling cry, the monster was pulled down into a now gaping hole in the floor. Hiei lowered his sword as he felt the familiar youki of Kurama radiating from beneath them. Yusuke approached the hole and looked down with his hands on his knees.

In the shadows below, the spirit detective could barely make out the Kurama's softly smiling face. "Hey," he said happily and reached his arm down to give the redheaded young man a hand up. Kurama took his arm and was rather ungracefully yanked up through the opening.

Kurama looked from Yusuke to Hiei with bewildered amusement. The fox demon stood with his weight on his right leg. His left pant leg was covered in blood and dirt. Hiei walked up to Kurama with an intense glare.

"Damn it, Kurama!" he growled. "That was my fight, and you had no reason to interfere!"

Yusuke had to swallow a laugh as he watched the shorter demon glaring up at a rather amused Kurama. The fox demon gave Hiei a crooked smile and said, "They are hardy fellows, aren't they? I thought I'd save you the trouble trying to hack the brute to pieces." Kurama paused a moment. "Uh, why are you two here?"

"Koenma sent us to dig you out of this hole," Yusuke explained. "Are you hurt?"

"Nothing to speak of," Kurama said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm impressed you two made it down here without triggering any of the traps."

"What's the problem?" Yusuke said cheerfully. "We only had to get past the wards which were pretty easy to sense once you got close."

Kurama's face fell suddenly. "You didn't avoid the gate triggers?"

"The what?" Hiei said still glaring at his friend.

"Ugh," Kurama groaned. "There were lines, wires, across the tunnels, smaller than spider web. Some of them were very difficult to spot. If you broke any of them, big stone gates lowered and we're trapped in here."

Hiei flitted across the room to the tunnel they had entered through almost faster than Yusuke could follow and returned as quickly. Hiei frowned, "He's right."

Kurama sighed. "The top of this ceiling is not too far from the surface; we should be able to tunnel through fairly easily."

"Tunneling isn't my style," Yusuke said as he raised his hand and pointed toward the ceiling.

Kurama lurched forward. "No! Yusuke!" The spirit detective hesitated. "You'll bring the entire ceiling down on our heads. If you give me an hour or so, I can use my plants to tunnel out without caving in this tomb."

Yusuke lowered his hand as he mumbled something about his way being more fun. "Hn," Hiei snorted. He did not look forward another hour here with these two. His red eyes and glanced up at Kurama's face. His skin looked drawn and gray. _What happened down here?_ he thought silently.

A/N: Wow! Long chapter! And it took me long enough. I know right now the story isn't very personal (not an easy job when dealing with Hiei :-\ ), but it's getting there. Still kind of setting up the scene. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take me as long, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters. 

Quick note, there are some flashback scenes in this chapter. They are all done in italics. If this is confusing or difficult to read, let me know in a review, and I'll come up with some other way to set them off.

Kurama allowed his concentration to split. Half of him was working with heavy vine digging through the ceiling above as they supported the tunnel he created. The other half of him was waiting for Yusuke or Hiei to question him. He was rather surprised they had not already.

With a weary sigh, Kurama leaned back against the stone casket behind him. He could hear Yusuke over him, examining the skeleton inside the casket. Hiei was leaning against the wall across from him with his head down and his eyes closed.

"Did you get the pendant?" Yusuke asked suddenly.

Kurama closed his eyes. "No."

The unblemished silver glinted against Kurama's hand as he pulled the pendant away from the skeletal neck of the demon in the large casket. It was really quite lovely_, he thought. _That picture does not do it justice.

There was the sound of leather padding softly on dirt behind him, and Kurama spun around. A tall demon stood at the tunnel doorway. Fairly human looking, the only sign he was actually a demon was the long, pointed pair of ears that stuck out from his deep purple hair. The demon looked surprised to see Kurama, but he quickly prepared for a fight. Kurama felt his youki spike.

Although from what Kurama could sense this demon did not present much of a challenge, he was not one to underestimate his opponents. He lifted his hand to his hair to grasp the grasp his rose. The other demon's eyes stayed narrowed on the silver pendant held in Kurama's left hand.

"There's no need for you to die here," Kurama said softly. Anymore, he tried to avoid adding to the blood on his hands. "You cannot win this fight." The demon only smiled.

"Why not?" Hiei said gruffly without opening his eyes. Kurama could tell from his tone he was still angry about his interference in Hiei's fight.

"Another demon came after it. He took it and left," Kurama answered simply.

"You lost a fight?" Hiei's bright eyes snapped open to regard him. There was a small smile on his face. Yes, he was definitely still angry.

"It happens from time to time," Kurama said curtly and his normally smiling eyes narrowed dangerously. "This demon had…abilities that complicated things."

__

As soon as Kurama pulled his rose whip out, his opponent began radiating a dense heat. A fire demon, then_, Kurama thought with mild surprise. Immediately though, he began to feel something else. An almost feverish heat pounded behind Kurama's eyes._

The fight began in earnest. The fire demon used mostly martial art skills, trying to land punches on Kurama with his fists which radiated with his energy. Kurama dodged sluggishly. His vision was getting hazy and he was beginning to feel as if there was a fire burning him from the inside.

Suddenly, Kurama felt the change coming on. That familiar split second of agony, the shift and suddenly silver hair flowed in front of Kurama's eyes instead of red. But instead of the feeling of immense power rushing through him that came with becoming the youko, he felt only drained.

He tripped on his suddenly longer legs and fell, hitting the dirt floor with his cheek. The haze had not lifted and he saw double as the fire demon approached him with a wicked smile. A sudden kick in the ribs sent the semi-conscious youko flying. He half hit the casket behind him, and he felt blood running down his leg.

"Why did Koenma send you two after me?" Kurama asked. _Changing the subject, hm?_ Hiei thought to himself.

Yusuke, not picking up on this answered, "After three days, can you blame pacifier-breath for worrying?"

"Three days!" Kurama exclaimed in surprise. His emerald eyes were wide with disbelief.

With a sigh under his breath, Hiei stood completely and walked over to where Kurama was sitting. With his hands crossed over his chest, the demon looked down at Kurama for a moment. "Perhaps you had better just tell us what happened."

Yusuke came around from where he had been standing behind the stone casket. With both of them looking down at him like that, Kurama could not help but feel as though he were being interrogated. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Just after I had the pendant, another demon, a fire demon, came in through the tunnel. His youki was minimal so I was not particularly worried although he did seem determined to get the pendant." Kurama closed his eyes as he continued. 

"He did something to me. And I changed into my youko form. In stead of getting stronger though, I was much weaker." Kurama opened his eyes and looked at Hiei with a piecing, questioning look. "I have never experienced or heard of such an ability."

Yusuke looked at Hiei as well. The abilities of fire demons seemed to be Hiei's department of expertise. With a small shrug, Hiei turned away from them and went back to leaning against the far wall.

"Then what happened?" asked the spirit detective as he slumped down next to Kurama.

"I don't remember," Kurama answered. "He took the pendant, and I must have lost consciousness because the next thing I knew, I could feel Hiei fighting above me. I was Suuichi again."

The three waited in silence for a few moments. Yusuke watched Kurama. The fox demon had sounded…confused and that something he had never heard in Kurama's normally detached voice.

"I'm through," Kurama said abruptly. He stood awkwardly and walked over to the spot on the wall where his vines clung. "Smallest first," he said with a smile to Hiei.

The smaller demon growled slightly under his breathe, but quickly started climbing up the thick vines that led up to a dark opening in the ceiling. Kurama smiled to himself before he began his ascent up the wall.

A/N: See, that didn't take me as long! I hope the flashback scenes weren't too confusing, but I kind of like the way that turned out. And questions abound in my reviews! Thank you, I love it when people question my plot because then I know that I'm tickling your curiosity. Anyway, please leave me more feedback!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

Hiei and Yusuke left Kurama alone in Koenma's office. The small demigod had not been pleased with the news they had brought him, to say the least. Yusuke paused and glanced back at the door.

"What else could they possibly have to talk about? And without me, too!" Yusuke said loudly. Hiei shoot him a glare.

"The toddler knows he's likely to get more out of the kitsune if we aren't there," Hiei said dispassionately.

"What more is there to say? Kurama told him everything just now."

"Don't be naive, spirit detective. Kurama carefully plans every word out of his mouth and the only reason we got as close to the truth as we did was because he did not have enough time to prepare his answer. Trust me, there's more to it than he'll tell even Koenma." Hiei turned and walked out.

__

Another classic Hiei farewell, Yusuke thought as he headed home.

~*~*~*~

After a few awkward moments of slightly believable excuses as to his absence, Kurama finally escaped his mother's questions to the darkness of his room. As he shut the door, he could immediately sense another presence.

"What brings you here, Hiei?" Kurama asked as he flipped the light switch on the wall.

From his perch on the open windowsill, the small demon snorted. "I want to know what you told Koenma that you did not tell me."

"Hello, Kurama! How are you? Oh, just fine, thanks for asking, Hiei," Kurama said to himself as he pulled off his dirty shirt and slipped on loose white tee shirt.

"What's that?" Hiei said with mild confusion.

"Sorry," Kurama said sarcastically. "I was just having a normal conversation for once."

Hiei looked at Kurama with one eyebrow raised. Kurama sighed and collapsed on his bed. "Did it ever occur to you to say hello, when you invite yourself into my room?"

"The window was open," Hiei snorted. That meant he was welcome, in his mind. _Besides_, he thought, _since when does Kurama care that I came in when he wasn't here? Normally the kitsune seems almost pleased to see me_. "You're changing the subject."

Kurama tilted his head and gave Hiei a charming half smile. "When did you get so insightful, my little koorime?"

"Stop trying to make me angry, and answer the question!" Hiei growled. Kurama's smile vanished and suddenly all his masks seemed to fall away. His face looked tired and confused. His normally brilliant green eyes seemed to dull in a split second.

Kurama leaned over the edge of his bed and put his head between his knees. "Get out." Kurama's voice came in a coarse whisper.

Standing, Hiei narrowed his eyes in a dark glare at Kurama's back. "What?" he growled.

Kurama turned to him, a deep anger burned in his eyes. "Listen, Hiei. I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in three days. I just got through being interrogated by Koenma and my mother. I don't need it from you now."

Hiei was silent for a moment. "Hn," he snorted and flitted out the open window. Kurama lay back on his bed with an annoyed sigh. That outburst should never have gotten out, but he was tired. More tired than he had been in a long time.

~*~*~*~

Hiei landed with a soft pad near the center of the empty hall. It was dark in the hall. The torches that had been lit earlier were not now. With a quick wave of his hand, they jumped to life again.

Without bothering for looking for any youki, Hiei walked over to the gaping hole in the floor. He had decided that something in this tomb masked youki. That was why he had not been able to sense Kurama, and why Kurama had not sensed the fire demon as he approached.

With a quick leap down the hole, Hiei landed in the semi-darkness. It was enough light though for him to see with ease. His eyes were much better than any ningen's. 

The room below the hall was just as big but with much lower ceiling. Kurama would just have to stoop slightly. Just off to his left he could see the corpse of the demon that had attacked him, thick vines wound tightly around its neck. The majority of the floor space held large casks and barrels, probably offerings to the demon whose tomb this was.

Hiei pulled the white headband from his head in a swift movement, and allowed the Jagan eye survey the area. It was much more sensitive to the traces left behind by youki than Hiei on his own. As he scanned the room, he could pick up traces of the Youko, but it was strange.

Normally, any use of youki left distinct traces. Kurama's vines, for instance, practically glowed with his familiar youki. The trace, however, was strictly limited to the vines, because that was the only thing touched by his energy.

But the Youko's traces seemed to radiate throughout the room evenly. There was only one spot where the trace was more concentrated than every where else. A large spot on the floor, about the size of a person lying flat.

Hiei frowned as he studied the spot on the floor. It smelled of Kurama. He was sure he had found something, some clue, but he'd be damned if he knew what it meant. 

Heading back to the surface, Hiei mused over his last meeting with the fox. Hiei was one of the few people that realized how manipulative his friend was. Normally, when he figured out what Kurama was doing, he let it go. Hiei had never seen him lose his temper like that. It was in Kurama's nature to control every situation, and Hiei accepted that.

However, something about this particular situation made Hiei think that Kurama was in over his head. For once he wished their friendship were more open. Of course, that would be more trouble than it was worth in the end.

~*~*~*~

The moon shone evenly over the empty park. Jiro enjoyed the quiet piece of the night as he walked home from a late night at the office. He looked forward to spending the remainder evening with his wife at home.

He did not hear the footsteps following him, or the pregnant feeling of violence in the air. He did not smell the blood or feel the heat radiating from a few yards behind him. Not, that is, until it was far too late to do any thing about it.

A fury of orange eyes, purple hair, a blinding light, and all of a sudden, Jiro felt the blood drain from his face. He hit the pavement with a dull thud and just before the darkness claimed him, he heard a deep throaty laugh.

A/N: Ah, the triumphant appearance of my own character, Jiro…and the prompt killing off of Jiro. Ok, he's not dead, not quite, but we'll get to that in the next exciting installment…oh, never mind. I'll update soon. Probably. I'm actually quite proud of this chapter. I thought Kurama came off exactly as I wanted him too. Please review, it really boosts my guilt…which means I work on this more.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

Yusuke and Kuwabara entered Koenma's office together. Kurama and Hiei were already there, waiting for the demigod to give them the details of their next assignment.

"Hello Yusuke, Kuwabara," Kurama said cordially as the spirit detective closed the heavy door behind them.

"Hey, guys!" Kuwabara exclaimed excitedly. He had been rather put out about his exclusion from the last mission, but Yusuke had managed to beat some sense into him.

When he turned around, Yusuke immediately got the sense that there was some tension between the demon half of his team. Hiei had not turned around from his perch on the windowsill and Kurama was carefully avoiding looking in his direction.

"Jeez, who died?" Kuwabara said, obviously picking up on the mood as he flopped down on the long couch next to the red-haired fox demon.

Kurama raised an eyebrow but did not comment and Hiei continued his silent vigil without interruption.

"Man," Yusuke said as he leaned against the wall. "Why is Koenma so concerned with being on time when he can't be in his office on time?"

"Because my time is infinitely more valuable than yours," Koenma said as he stepped into the room and climbed onto his chair. He sat down and began to shuffle the papers on his desk into a few separate stacks as the four teammates waited for their assignment.

"Well, this mission should be fairly expected," Koenma finally said looking up from his desk. "You are to find and subdue a fire demon named Kiosh who is in possession of the artifact I sent you after three days ago." Koenma glanced at Kurama quickly, then lowered his eyes.

"We know that he is in the Ningenkai but we haven't been able to fix his location. That means you're just going to have to keep your eyes open and find him through more conventional means. If any one of you runs into him, contact the others. No heroics here," Koenma said sternly.

"I thought even though he beat Kurama, this guy wasn't that strong," Kuwabara said completely without tact. 

Kurama shot him a strangely Hiei-like glare and said something under his breath that although was not Japanese, Yusuke was sure it was not complimentary. Hiei looked at Kurama with surprise for a moment before he burst out laughing. Hiei laughing was a disturbing sight.

"Ahem," Koenma cleared his throat. Hiei stopped laughing and Kurama continued to scowl although now it was directed at the foot of the demigod's desk. "Anyway, the demon was just a lower class, but now that he's been in the Ningenkai for a few days he's considerably stronger, thanks to the pendant."

Koenma continued, "All ningens have reiki but for most it's minimal and inaccessible. However, this demon has been draining this from quite a few ningens and now he is considerably stronger."

"What about the people he drained?" Yusuke asked.

"They've slipped into coma-like states. Once we get the pendant, I suspect we'll be able to release their energy back to them. Kill Kiosh or capture him, but get the pendant. Any questions?" Koenma asked.

No one said anything. "Ok," Yusuke said after the moment of silence. "Let's get going then."

The four of them trailed out the door, but Kurama hung back a moment just outside Koenma's office. "Kuwabara, could I have a word?" he asked softly.

Hiei and Yusuke stood several yards away as Kurama spoke quietly to the orange-haired young man. He had a sincere look on his face as he talked and Kuwabara shook his head several times.

"What's that all about?" Yusuke asked, shaking his head in confusion.

"He's apologizing, idiot." Yusuke was not sure whether Hiei was calling him or Kurama the idiot, but he suddenly remembered the growled remark Kurama had let out a few moments ago.

"What did he say to Kuwabara back there?"

Hiei's mouth twitched slightly in an almost smile. He hesitated a moment before saying, "It is not appropriate for repeating…Besides, it doesn't translate well."

Hiei turned and left Yusuke gawking for a minute. For Hiei to not want to repeat it, it must have been pretty bad.

~*~*~*~

It was fast approaching dusk when they got back to the Ningenkai. The sky was a brilliant orange red with the setting sun over the city. A few tiny stars could just be made out on the eastern horizon. The city seemed strangely muted, the bustle in the streets a distant buzz.

"Ok," Yusuke started. "We should split up. It may take us a while to find this guy." Kuwabara moved to Yusuke's side. "Oh no, Kuwabara. Kurama and Hiei are the telepaths and if one group runs into this Kiosh guy, they can contact each other. Kurama, you're with me."

Hiei shot the spirit detective a death glare from beneath his dark bangs, but didn't complain other than a small 'hn.' 

Yusuke and Kurama headed of toward the south part of town while the other two went north. After about thirty minutes of walking with no sign of anything more extraordinary than three-legged dog in the park, Yusuke was decidedly bored.

"Kurama?"

"Yes?" The fox demon continued walking with his face down, watching the flowers they passed, his long red tresses obscuring his face.

"What did you say to Kuwabara at Koenma's office?" Yusuke did not think that Kurama would actually give him a truthful answer, but any conversation was more interesting than walking in silence.

"Oh that," Kurama chuckled. "I'm afraid the translation loses most of its significance, and the reference would be lost on you." He paused. "It was rude; I should not vented my anger on Kuwabara. There was no malice in his comment."

There were a few moments of silence. "Koenma asked you to keep an eye on me."

This did not seem to be a question and Yusuke doubted he could fool Kurama with a lie. "Is that a problem?"

"Do you trust me in a fight?" Kurama asked quietly.

"Of course," Yusuke said without hesitation.

"Then no." Kurama suddenly stopped, mid-pace. His eyes went wide and he gripped Yusuke's sleeve. "They've found him."

~*~*~*~

Luckily, that orange headed bafoon was being quiet. If he had insisted on speaking, Hiei might have considered cutting out his tongue and jamming it up his nose. Hiei walked a good two yards to the idiot's left just so that no one would think he was with him.

That Hiei did not feel Kiosh's ki before the demon attacked was a testament to his growth in strength since he first obtained the pendant. As it was, he sensed the attack just in time to jump out of the way of a huge fireball. He landed in a crouch a few yards away.

__

Kurama, Hiei reached out with his mind. _We found him. Just south of the park. Look for the pyrotechnics._

He dodged again and looked wildly about for the demon responsible for the flying attacks. Kuwabara was on the other side of the small crater in the sidewalk.

Suddenly he saw him, and apparently he had changed quite a bit in only three days. Kurama had not gone into detail describing the guy, but he had said he looked fairly human. That could not truthfully be said of the demon now. He was about eight feet tall with long pointed ears sticking up from his long, bright purple hair. His eyes glowed orange. The silver pendant glimmered against his neck.

Hiei did not have time to stand around and study Kiosh though as he continued a rapid barrage of fireballs at him. He would never get an attack in if the demon could keep up this pace.

Suddenly with a yell, Kuwabara charged wielding his spirit sword. Kiosh smiled and raised his hand to attacking young man.

Abruptly, Hiei realized what was happening. "No, you idiot!" he yelled too late. There was a sudden flash, Kuwabara grunted and fell to the pavement, limply. Kiosh turned to Hiei with a crooked grin, and Hiei could feel that his strength had just increased dramatically.

Kiosh raised his hands to prepare another attack. Hiei prepared another dodge.

"Rose whip!" Suddenly Kurama appear wielding his whip. With a swipe, it wrapped around Kiosh's wrist as Hiei saw Yusuke pulling an inert Kuwabara out of the way.

Without warning, Kurama dropped his rose whip and stepped back with a cry of pain. As Hiei watched, Kurama doubled over. He couldn't see his face, but his hair suddenly shifted from red to silver…then back to red again.

Kiosh seemed to be struggling as well; his brows were knit in concentration. Kurama lifted his bowed head and let out a feral grown. His pained eyes glared at the demon as they shifted between green and yellow. Kiosh abruptly turned and fled, just as Hiei launched himself at him with his katana drawn.

He was gone. Kuwabara lay unconscious in the bushes and Kurama was on his hands and knees, shaking. Hiei landed next to his friend. He looked up to Yusuke.

"That could have gone better."

A/N: Ew, I hate writing fight scenes. This chapter took me longer than I anticipated, but then the chapter was longer than I anticipated…Hm. Oh well, please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Hey guess what! I just bought all the rights to Yu Yu Hakusho! Mua ha ha ha!!! Ok that's sarcastic evil laughter. I don't own any of this, I'm just playing with someone else's characters.

Kurama leaned against a wide tree trunk taking deep shuttering breaths. The experience had left him shaken but he thought he understood what was happening to him now. Slowly he pushed himself up the length of the tree and stood on wobbly legs.

Hiei and Yusuke were standing a few yards away, the human leaning over the prone form of Kuwabara. With a deep breath, Kurama walked slowly over. The unconscious teen lay on his back, his eyes closed and his breathing slow.

Yusuke looked up at Kurama as he approached. He noticed how pale his face had gone. At least he was not shaking as badly as he had been a few moments ago. "You feeling better?"

Kurama nodded. He did not trust his voice just yet.

"We should get out of here," Hiei suggested quietly. He glanced at Kurama and then down to the dozing idiot.

"Right, we need to regroup," Yusuke said. "I doubt we are going to run into that demon again tonight. I'll get Kuwabara home. You two go to Kurama's house; I'll meet you there, and then someone can explain what the hell just happened. We need to get this guy now. We can't leave this idiot in a coma."

The two demons nodded and Yusuke pulled Kuwabara's arm over his shoulder. He hefted the larger teen with a grunt and headed off in the direction of Kuwabara's house.

Hiei watched Kurama out of the corner of his eye waiting for him to start. The kitsune was acting very strangely. His hands shook and he did not seem particularly steady on his feet. He could feel the energy pouring out of him in strange waves.

The walk to Kurama's house was slow. Hiei kept the slow pace his companion set, which did not bother him until it started to rain. "Hn," he snorted. He hated getting wet.

"Go ahead, Hiei," Kurama said quietly. "You can be there in a few seconds; the window is open."

Hiei hesitated as though he was about to say something but then closed his mouth resolutely, and continued walked at the slow pace. Kurama hid a small smile as they continued on towards his house.

~*~*~*~

After several unanswered knocks, Yusuke opened door to Kurama's house. "Kurama?" he said tentatively. He did not know if Kurama's mother was home not. She did tend to have the convenient habit of often being absent in the evenings.

He stepped inside. Hiei was standing on the stairs leading up to Kurama's room with his arms crossed rather arrogantly across his chest. He watched the spirit detective with his crimson eyes.

"Why didn't you answer the door?"

Hiei frowned slightly. "Is that what you were waiting for?"

__

Ok then, Yusuke thought. _Apparently demons do not knock on doors in the Makai. Or maybe they didn't have doors_. "Where's Kurama?"

"In the bathroom. I think he's done throwing up."

"What?" Yusuke asked, surprised.

Kurama appeared though at the top of the steps, before Hiei could answer, frowning slightly at Hiei. He had changed his clothing and obviously cleaned his face and hair. If he had been ill, he showed no signs of it now. With an elegant sweep of his hand through his hair, he motioned for them to follow him into his bedroom.

As Yusuke shut the door behind him, Kurama sat down at his desk and said quietly, "My mother is in the room at the end of the hall downstairs and she is a heavy sleeper, but I think we should still keep it down. Otherwise you'll likely be force fed tea and cookies."

Yusuke laughed as he sat down on the neatly made bed. Hiei was already propped up in the window frame. "You're ok now?" Yusuke asked the former fox demon.

"Yes," he answered quickly. "That was a side affect of blocking off my youki."

Yusuke abruptly tried to sense his demon energy, but could not sense anything. "It's like you're completely human," he said with surprise and confusion. "I can't feel anything."

"Yes, it seemed like the best way to end the fight."

"Explain," Hiei said coldly.

"Koenma was wrong about the pendant, at least partially," Kurama started. He sat with perfect posture, his legs crossed and his hands folded on his lap. Yusuke could help but be reminded of a teacher. "It isn't that the pendant can sap reiki. It can sap humans, and physically, I am human."

"But you aren't in a coma," Hiei stated dryly.

"No, and that's because I had enough time to block off my youki," Kurama explained. "The pendant was not designed with youki in mind and it is not equipped to handle the vast amounts demons have. Reiki may be stronger, but youki exists in far larger quantities." He said it as though that made everything clear.

"Wait a second," Yusuke said. "How come you kept shifting between your human and demon form?"

"Well, it's only a guess, but I believe that the pendant got confused. Normally in any energy capture there is a human and a demon involved, and the pendant sends its energy to the demon," Kurama paused. "This time though, it's as though there was say, a demon and a half. The pendant started to feed me the power Kiosh had drained. It was more than a human body could handle, so I shifted."

Kurama frowned. "If I changed back though, I'd say Kiosh is gaining more and more control over the pendant. If I hadn't been able to block my youki, in a few more seconds I fear Kuwabara and I would be in the same boat."

"So it's just me, then, right?" Hiei asked.

"What do you mean?" Yusuke demanded.

"Kurama cannot use his demon energy, even if he could unlock it, he'd just get drained. And if the demon drains you…" Hiei left the statement unfinished. He disliked reminding Yusuke how strong he was.

"No," Kurama said slowly. "Kiosh can't drain Yusuke."

"What? Why not?" Yusuke asked scratching his head in a classic display of confusion.

"I don't know," Kurama shrugged. "I just know he can't."

"How do you know?" Hiei said with more than a hint of irritation.

"When he tried to drain me, I got…" he paused as he searched for the right word. "A glimpse, I suppose is the best way to describe it, of his mind. He doesn't know why either, I don't think."

The three friends sat in silence for a few moments. "You will be able to unblock your youki eventually, right?" Yusuke asked suddenly.

"Probably."

"Probably? What the hell does that mean?" His voice was a bit louder than Kurama was comfortable with.

"Well it isn't something most demons do. It makes me terribly vulnerable. I think with some meditation though I can break down the barrier." Kurama chewed his lip a moment in thought. "Regardless, it won't take Kiosh long to recover getting violently shut out of my mind."

"We'll start tracking him again tomorrow. It's late, and I'm tired. What time is it anyway?" Yusuke yawned.

Kurama glanced at the display of his alarm clock. "Two o'clock," he said with a frown. "I have to get up in a few hours for school. I suppose you'll be…taking the day off of school?" he asked gently.

Yusuke gave him a crooked grin that served as an affirmative.

"Contact me if you find him then."

"What are you going to do?" Hiei asked derisively. "Throw flower petals at him? Somehow I doubt that will impress him."

"If you don't remember, I have fought battles without access to my energy," Kurama said calmly. He obviously expected Hiei's reaction. "I am a skilled martial artist and at the very least I will serve as a distraction for you two."

"Sounds good, whatever," Yusuke said with a yawn and a wave of his hand. He stood up and headed for the door. "I'll see you guys later."

After Yusuke left, Kurama stood up and grabbed the pair of grey sweat pants he slept in from his closet. When he turned around, he was surprised to see Hiei still sitting on the windowsill. He waited for a moment in surprise, then asked incredulously, "Are you staying the night?"

"Hn, of course not," he answered with his eyes closed. "Yusuke may not be able to sense it, but you are still leaking youki. You may have fooled him, but I'm not so trusting, kitsune."

Kurama shot him a smile. "You never fail to impress me, Hiei. I'm not stupid enough to block off all of my power. Hopefully, Kiosh will not be able to find the holes in my barricade though."

"You play too many games. You still aren't telling me everything." Hiei opened his eyes to fix Kurama with an intense red-eyed look. "And you won't, will you? No mater what I ask, you won't let anyone know what's going on with you."

Kurama smiled with a shrug. "I suggest you find a comfortable tree limb while the rain has let up."

Hiei left without another word. _I think he's actually mad at me_, Kurama thought baffled. _Normally he would have at least snorted._

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long, but I have a good excuse, I swear! My brother tripped on the telephone cord and pulled the jack right off my modem. So ninety bucks for my new modem and four days later, here is the next chapter. Hm, not much action in this chapter, a lot of explaining. I kind of think Kurama enjoys knowing what everyone else is in the dark about. Please review and hopefully I'll be motivated enough to get the next chapter out before I start moving next week, cause that will put a cramp in my schedule.

BTW, I put out a one shot about Kurama and as far as I know, no one has read it. So if you could, just take a look. I don't care if you hate it, but I'd like to know that someone, anyone has read it.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. I have not seen the movies or the end of the anime series, but it is my understanding that Yusuke eventually finds out that he is part demon. If this is untrue, oops, pretend like it is, cause that's the reason Yusuke isn't affected by the pendant. He's not going to find that out in this fic, but I wanted to let you know that there is some method to my madness.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

The hot afternoon sun beat down onto the concrete sidewalk causing the air above it to shimmer. Since the rain the night before, it was very humid and Kurama was sweating beneath the heavy school uniform he wore. If he were not so particular about his appearance, he might have just taken off his jacket, but he would wait until he got home to change.

He wondered if Yusuke and Hiei had found any traces of Kiosh. He did not know if Hiei would actually contact him or not. Sometimes the small demon could be quite vindictive and if he was mad at Kurama, leaving him out of a fight would seem like a suitable revenge to him.

Briefly considering pulling down his barrier to allow him his telepathy, Kurama quickly dismissed the idea. The queasiness of reestablishing the block would not be worth it. In fact, he was not entirely sure he was completely over the last bout of illness. He had not eaten at all today to avoid vomiting again.

He continued his walk home allowing his concentration to wander. The lines of flowers planted along the sidewalk seemed to droop slightly under the sun's intense onslaught and Kurama had to fight the urge to come back with a watering can.

With a forced jerk, Kurama looked away from the flowers. He should be paying more attention to his surroundings but for some reason he felt rather anonymous with his youki all but obscured. It was as though he could actually pretend to himself he was human. It seemed…liberating.

Still, a dangerous demon was still out there and Kurama was not exactly his best friend right now. _You don't have to be able to sense youki to pay attention_, he scolded himself silently. He glanced up to see a dark flash among the branches of the trees above him. He stopped.

"Hiei?"

He flitted down next to Kurama and started walking as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Kurama sighed as he took a few hurried steps to catch up with him. "I thought you were angry with me," he said nonchalantly.

Hiei did not look up. "It took you long enough. I've been following you since you left that ningen school of yours."

"Any luck with our renegade fire demon?" Kurama asked, choosing to ignore the insults in his last statement.

"Hn," Hiei snorted. "None."

"Where's Yusuke?"

"Visiting that inanimate oaf. I've no idea what he hopes to accomplish," Hiei replied sourly.

Kurama rolled his eyes. "They are friends, Hiei. When one is in trouble, the other worries about him. It is the way human relationships work."

"What is he going to do? That idiot can't hear anything he says. It's pointless."

Kurama could not help but smile at his friend's naiveté when it came to relationships. Even in the demon world, things were not as simple as Hiei would no doubt like them to be. "It is important to Yusuke. No doubt it reaffirms his resolve to stop this demon."

Hiei gave the redheaded fox demon an unconvinced look and without further conversation, the two continued on toward Kurama's house. They reached the tiny yard out front.

"Are you coming in? I'm just going to change and then we can head out again," Kurama said with his hand on the gate.

"Is your mother home?" Hiei asked warily. He disliked contact with ningens other than his companions and avoided it whenever demonly possible.

"Yes," Kurama answered.

"I'll met you at Yusuke's." He liked Yusuke's mother. She never questioned him when he did happened to see her and most of the time she was asleep or passed out.

"Have it your way," Kurama said with a wave of his hand. "I'll be there in a few moments."

Hiei nodded once, curtly before he flitted toward the park. He'd wait there before going to the spirit detective's house. There was no point in getting there before Kurama did especially if Yusuke was not yet home.

He found a comfortable limb to sit on as he watched a ningen child throwing a sort of red disc and forcing a scruffy four-legged animal to retrieve it. It was obviously some sort of sadistic torture to force the animal to repeat such a sisyphusian task and Hiei therefore enjoyed the show.

After a few moments the animal seemed to rebel and was immediately put on a chain. _Perhaps not all ningens are as soft as I imagined_, Hiei thought as he watched the animal pull the child along. Without the distraction, Hiei's thoughts focused on his current problems.

He had not told Kurama, but Kiosh had not been idle since their last encounter. Yusuke and he had found the body of a human man, dead. It seemed Kurama was right in suggesting the fire demon was gaining more control over the pendant. Now he was not only drawing spirit energy, but life energy as well. It was likely that Kiosh would be significantly stronger the next time they met.

Deciding he had waited long enough, Hiei stood and hurried to the spirit detective's home. Yusuke's window was in rather an awkward place for sneaking in so Hiei decided on the door although he disliked such a forward means of entry.

He opened the door quickly and flitted to Yusuke's bedroom. Yusuke was sitting on his floor playing one of those video game things. When he saw Hiei, he dropped the controller in his hand and stood up. "Hey up for another round?" he asked with a grin.

"Where's Kurama?" Hiei asked flatly.

Yusuke shook his head and answered, "I haven't talked to him since last night."

"He was on his way over," Hiei said as he turned out the door. The kitsune should have been here by now and Hiei immediately had a bad feeling about this.

Hiei hesitated a moment before using his telepathy. If Kurama had lost his telepathic abilities with his youki then any communication Hiei attempted would be a trespass into his mind, something Hiei disliked doing. 

Oh well. _Kurama!_ he reached out with his mind. He immediately got a flash of Kurama's mind at the moment. Pain and anger were the overwhelming senses he got. _Where are you?_ he thought with a slight edge of alarm.

__

Hiei? Kurama's normally crisp, clear thoughts were harder to distinguish now without his telepathy from the rest of his mind. Out of the jumble he could make out his response. _Forest, outside of Genkai's temple_.

"Come on," he said to the human. "Kurama's found Kiosh." Actually, it was probably the other way around.

A/N: Eep, another fight scene coming up! I'm thinking one more chapter and a short epilogue, then this one is through. This chapter was really light and easy to write so I'm happy with it. I thought, though, I'd end it on more of an ominous note. Erm, I hope I'm still generating interest. Please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

It was still quite hot, but the breeze that rustled Kurama's blood red hair was refreshing as he stepped out the door and headed toward Yusuke's house. Hiei would no doubt arrive after he was completely sure Kurama was already there so the fox demon felt no need for hurry.

He stepped out on to the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. For some reason though, Kurama was unable to enjoy the peaceful afternoon. Despite the breeze, the air felt strangely stale and thick. He glanced once, discreetly over his shoulder.

A young couple was having an ardent conversation just outside a small café while an elderly woman walking in the same direction as Kurama held the hand of a small child. Completely ordinary, he thought with some disappointment. Something seemed wrong and it would be more comforting if he could see what it was.

Suddenly, he felt a violent blast of heat just to his right. Kurama tumbled awkwardly away from the full brunt of the attack although he knew he was already injured. The entire right side of his body seemed to throb with the burns he was sure were forming there.

Kurama struggled to his feet. Kiosh stood about twenty yards away grinning strangely. He was much more primal looking than he had been just yesterday. He no longer stood fully up right, putting some of his weight on his now long arms. His purple hair seemed to have grown bushier and more unkempt, and his eyes were now slit vertically, like a cat's.

"Hello, Youko Kurama," he said with a smug grin.

"So you've figured out who I am," Kurama said in a calm, carefully flat, voice. "You'll forgive me if I'm not terribly impressed."

"Would you like me to impress you? I've learned some new tricks that I'm sure you'll find very entertaining." The fire demon leapt suddenly forward landing just a few feet from Kurama, who took an unintentional step backwards.

Kiosh, however, was more interested in the couple Kurama had noticed a few moments ago. The woman was lying on the concrete where she had fallen after Kiosh's initial attack. The man was unconscious and the woman leaned over him protectively as she watched the monstrous demon with wide eyes.

With ferocious speed, Kiosh's massive hand grabbed the woman who sobbed once and tried to wretch herself away. Kiosh maintained his grasp as he reached his free hand to the woman's face. His huge hand covered her face and muffled her scream.

Kurama watched with lurid fascination and unable to move, as there was a slight glow beneath Kiosh's palm. The woman ceased struggling and went limp. Kiosh shuddered once and his eyes rolled up into his head as he absorbed her energy. When he threw the body from him, Kurama immediately recognized the sickening thud of dead weight.

__

Life energy, he thought in the closest thing to panic he had felt in a very long time. _If he is able to drain life energy, my barriers cannot protect me._

As if he could sense Kurama's line of thinking, Kiosh grinned wickedly, causing his already disfigured face to become more ugly. "I don't think it would be wise for you to put up barriers around your life energy. Come, Kurama, let's have a real fight. Fight me with your youki."

__

He's baiting me, Kurama thought quickly. _He can sap my youki from a distance, but he needed to touch that woman, skin to skin, to drain life energy_. He glanced around quickly. A crowd was starting to gather and no wonder with all the commotion. 

__

There are too many targets for him here; I must draw him away from all these people, he thought as he launched into a headlong run. Whatever Kiosh had expected, it was not retreat, and Kurama took full advantage of the precious seconds his shock afforded him.

The former fox demon was sure he was faster than the enraged fire demon, but he was injured. His entire right side throbbed with every jarring step. 

"You cannot run forever!" Kurama heard Kiosh shout from somewhere behind him. He did not look back as he thought, _That is not my plan_.

A few moments later, as Kurama could hear the fire demon closing the gap between them, he found himself in the secluded forest outside Genkai's temple. In one fluid motion, he skidded to a halt and turned to face his pursuer.

Without slowing down, the lumbering fire demon gathered a huge ball of fire and threw it towards Kurama, who dodged it easily, landing in a tree branch above him.

"Kurama!" the demon bellowed. "Fight me like a demon! You are like a cat fighting with out claws."

"I am not a cat," Kurama said in the same tranquil tone he had used earlier. "I am a fox, and I need no claws." He reached behind his back and pulled out a thick, brown coil. Kiosh eyed him warily. "I would not dream of wasting my power on a coward like you."

Kurama unwound the coil slowly as Kiosh watched him. When he finally recognized the object Kurama held, he laughed. "An ordinary nigen whip, Kurama? You have sunk lower than I imagined into that human form of yours if you are willing to use a stupid little whip against _me_!"

It was true this weapon was much cruder than his rose whip, but he was extremely adept with either. He only hoped he could hold off the demon until Hiei realized something was wrong. With a quick leap Kurama landed on the ground below.

From there the fight began in earnest. Kiosh threw fireballs left and right, although none were as large as his initial two. Kurama stayed focused on dodging and moving in closer. Whenever he got close enough, he'd lash out at Kiosh's unprotected legs and arms, inflicting minor damage.

Although his mind was usually blank and completely focused when he fought, Kurama felt a wave of anger rise in him. Without his demon energy, he was more susceptible to his human emotions. This demon had no right to become stronger by exploiting and killing humans.

__

Kurama! He suddenly heard Hiei's voice ringing through his mind. It was almost deafening. _Where are you?_

__

Hiei? He thought sluggishly as he dodged another attack. Kurama struggled to form a lucid answer. _Forest, outside Genkai's temple_. He immediately felt the connection between them snap and he threw himself fully back into the fight.

~*~*~*~

Stupid, stupid kitsune, Hiei thought. He knew the thought was irrational, that Kurama had not sought out the demon on his own, but somehow, he couldn't help but think it.

Hiei had left Yusuke far behind. The human's speed was significantly less than his, and he did not have time to wait up for him. When he reached the dense forest, the small demon paused, sensed the now familiar youki of Kiosh, and sprinted off again.

The two were fighting in a clearing obviously created by Kiosh's pyrotechnics. Hiei could immediately see that the kitsune was losing this fight. He continued to evade his opponent's attacks gracely, but he dodged predictably to left whenever possible as his right side appeared to be badly injured.

Just as Hiei came to the clearing, Kurama suddenly staggered as his foot caught on a rock and he went down on one knee. Kiosh grinned triumphantly and raised his arms, gathering dark flames between his hands. Kurama struggled to his feet, his crimson hair obscuring his face.

Without thought Hiei launched himself toward his stooped friend and the two hurtled away from the blast of Kiosh's attack. Hiei landed in a crouch and Kurama hit the ground without his usual grace.

"Stay here!" Hiei hissed quickly before he drew his katana and began his own assault on the grotesque fire demon.

Kurama stood awkwardly, keeping most of his weight on his left foot. Just then, he saw Yusuke enter the clearing. Without further thought, the teen fired off his spirit gun. Kiosh saw it coming though and suddenly intense blue flames enveloped him completely. Yusuke's blast seemed to bounce harmlessly off of Kiosh's awesome defenses.

The flames disappeared and immediately Hiei jumped, his katana raised. Kiosh turned again, this time throwing a hard punch where Hiei's leap would have taken him. But the small demon used Kiosh's huge fist as a surface to leap from. His feet pushed neatly off and the momentum of the punch tossed him back in the air several yards where he landed in a crouch.

__

They will not win this way, Kurama thought dismayed. _Kiosh is drawing on almost limitless energy and strength alone will not best him_. Kiosh had burned his whip to a crisp during the fight, so there was little Kurama could do. Kurama threw his mind back to all of his encounters with the fire demon, trying to find some flaw in his technique. 

He frowned suddenly as a plan formed in his mind. It was reckless as hell, no doubt Yusuke would approve, but did it have enough of a chance to work? With a glance at his teammates he realized this might be their only chance. Without any more hesitation, Kurama took off at a full sprint toward Kiosh.

"You've got one shot, Yusuke!" he yelled. Kiosh half turned, but Kurama was already upon him. With a quick leap, Kurama's fist closed around the pendant at Kiosh's throat, just as he tore down the barrier blocking his youki. Intense pain blossomed behind his eyes and he thought he may have screamed, but blackness took over his entire world in an instant.

A/N: I am so sorry this chapter took me so long. I hate to leave things unfinished, but I just started college, and I'm sure you can appreciate how chaotic the last two weeks have been. Again, sorry. I had almost forgotten that I needed to finish this until I got an irate review telling me to get back to typing. I lied in the last chapter. I did not imagine that this chapter would be so long and I did not get to the point I wanted to leave off. So I'm scraping the epilogue idea and I'll just have one final chapter, which I will hopefully be able to write on labour day.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I am poor.  
  
Kurama looked like a blur to Yusuke as he ran and yelled, "You've got one shot, Yusuke!" Although he had no idea what Kurama's plan was, the spirit detective understood his part in it. He trusted and had often relied on the former thief's abilities of strategy.  
  
The fire demon the three of them fought turned slightly away from Yusuke as Kurama neared. Yusuke raised his hand, finger extended and ready to fire. Even injured, Kurama's agility was astounding as he ducked quickly beneath a swipe from Kiosh's arm without losing any momentum. Then several things happened simultaneously.  
  
Yusuke suddenly felt Kurama's youki spike just as the fox's hand grasped the silver pendant around Kiosh's neck. Kiosh's face seemed to have exploded in a wide grin as Kurama suddenly screamed, piercingly. Then Yusuke saw what he was waiting for. Kiosh shuddered violently and Yusuke saw his head lull back on his shoulders for an instant.  
  
Without hesitation, he fired of a powerful blast of spirit energy. The blue shimmering ball of light struck the unaware Kiosh square in the back just as Yusuke saw Kurama collapse. The huge fire demon staggered one step before he fell, landing squarely on top of Kurama's limp form.  
  
Hiei was there before Yusuke, his katana still drawn. He shoved the demon aside and saw that Kiosh was merely unconscious. With a clean swipe, Hiei drew his blade across the demon's thick throat. As Kiosh slowly bled to death, Hiei impassively wiped the blood from his blade on his pants leg.  
  
Hiei turned to Yusuke who looked at him with slightly startled eyes. "I will not suffer fools," the small demon said curtly. Yusuke hesitated only briefly before he nodded once.  
  
Leaning over Kurama, Hiei quickly turned the kitsune on his back. His jaw was slightly slack and his face was startlingly pale in comparison with his deep red hair. Hiei hesitated a moment before putting the back of his hand in front of the kitsune's open mouth.  
  
He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Yusuke. "He's breathing." He felt for a pulse too, and found it, although it was very weak.  
  
Suddenly a thought hit Yusuke. "Where's the pendant?" He turned and glanced at the bloody neck of the now deceased fire demon. It was not there. Yusuke looked frantically at the ground, trying to find the small silver pendant. Koenma said that was the only way to give Kuwabara back his reiki.  
  
Hiei watched Yusuke for a moment, then looked back at Kurama. He noticed suddenly that Kurama's left hand was closed in a tight fist. Hiei gently pried it open. "Yusuke."  
  
The spirit detective turned to see Hiei holding the small silver pendant. With a fluid motion, Hiei pulled the white scarf away from his neck and carefully wrapped the trinket in it. He disliked the feeling of the silver against his skin. It was as though he could feel all the different spirit signatures flowing around in a jumble within the artifact. Kurama's is in there somewhere, he thought.  
  
He pocketed the bundle as Yusuke bent down and carefully scooped Kurama off the ground. Together they headed slowly to a portal which would take them to Koenma's palace.  
  
A/N: Yes, I know, this is short, very short. I wrote this half of my "final" chapter about a week ago and I've been too busy to finish it yet. Sorry about that, but I thought it might be better to post this and then post the very end when I get a chance to write it. By the way, this weekend does not look good, so don't hold your breath. 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

Kurama did not remember waking up. He stared at the white ceiling of his room with a blank mind for several minutes before it occurred to him that he was awake. When the realization finally came, he sat up abruptly. _How long have I lain here?_ he wondered absently.

He was back in his room wearing the pair of sweatpants he normally slept in and tucked tightly in bed by stiff linen sheets. Yusuke must have taken him back, which of course meant Yusuke was not dead, which strongly implied that they had somehow won the fight.

The fight, that's right, he thought suddenly. With an immense wave of relief he found that his youki was intact and almost up to full strength.

With a small smile to himself, Kurama slipped out of his bed and dressed quickly, but with his usual care before heading down to the kitchen. He did not know how long he had been incapacitated, but if his stomach was any judge, it had been a fair amount. It had at least been two days as all of his wounds from the fight had healed completely.

He stepped into the kitchen without any care of being quiet. He had quickly learned that humans disliked being surprised so he was deliberately loud.

Still, his mother did not look up immediately from the paper she had spread out on the kitchen table until Kurama cleared his throated discreetly. She looked up with mild surprise before her entire face lit up in a smile.

"Oh, Suuichi," she said standing and giving him a hug. "I'm so glad your feeling better." She pushed him away slightly as if to inspect him. Apparently he met her approval since she promptly pushed him down in a chair. "You must be famished. You stay put and I'll fix you something."

Kurama watched as his mother began to busy her self around the kitchen. He waited a few moments before speaking. "I don't remember exactly what happened…" he said slowly. Of course he did remember, but he had no idea what story his mother had been told.

She turned to look at him quickly and said, "I suppose that shouldn't surprise me." She turned back to the cutting board in front of her. "You went out to meet your friends Monday and you just collapsed. Yusuke took you to the hospital and called me. Apparently you ate some bad meat which affected you. The doctor gave you some medicine and said you'd wake up when it had all run its course."

He was silent for a moment. "What is today?" he asked quietly.

"Friday," his mother said over his shoulder. Hm, four days he thought slowly. Not too bad considering, but he doubted any real ningen doctor would give that advice. It was probably a memory alteration thanks to Koenma. It was a good thing his mother was probably to worried to question it.

~*~*~*~

It was almost two hours later that Kurama was finally able to convince his mother that he was well enough to go out for a walk. In the end he told her he wished to thank Yusuke for 'taking him to the hospital' as that was the only reason she would find acceptable.

The day was pleasantly warm and the wind whipped through his long red tresses playfully. He started towards Yusuke's house immediately. He wanted to know what had happened and to ensure that Yusuke and Hiei had ended the battle without injury. 

The stroll to the spirit detective's home was blissfully uneventful. Just as Kurama lifted his hand to knock on the door, he felt Hiei's familiar youki boil slightly under the demon's normally tight concealment. _Hiei is here?_ he thought bemused.

Without knocking, Kurama slipped inside and headed towards Yusuke's room. The door was open and inside he could see Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Hiei all standing together looking like they had just gotten into a fight. Kurama cleared his throat softly exactly as he had for his mother this morning.

The three stopped glaring at each other to glance at him. Yusuke gave him a genuine grin, Kuwabara looked puzzled, and only Hiei looked annoyed.

"You are interrupting a conversation, kitsune," he said in his normal annoyed voice.

"Good to see you back on your feet, Kuwabara," Kurama said ignoring the other demon's comment entirely. Kuwabara scratched his head with a bemused look on his face.

"We should be saying that to you," Yusuke said with the same grin plastered on his face. "Kuwabara was up almost immediately after Koenma destroyed the pendant. We didn't think you'd be out as long as you were."

Kurama raised an eyebrow at that comment, but did not take offense at the implied weakness. "So how did the fight end?" he asked steering the conversation in a different direction.

"It ended with us kicking ass!" Yusuke said as he plopped down on his bed. Kuwabara did the same on the floor, and Hiei stood with his arms crossed although he did look less annoyed. "Right after you touched him, that Kiosh bastard got all weird for a second and I blasted him to smithereens."

Hiei snorted, and Kurama got the distinct impression that Yusuke had left something out of his brief narrative, but neither spoke up. _Well, what ever it is, that's their business_, he thought with a smile to himself. 

"Good," Kurama said with a genuine smile. His plan had worked despite that definite risks involved. If they had not defeated him then, Kiosh would have become quite strong with Kurama's power added to the punch. "I am relieved to hear my plan worked so well."

"You doubted?" Hiei asked, watching him shrewdly. "How much?"

Kurama gave him a winning smile. "You should know by now that most plans aren't based on the chance of success."

"Then what are they based on?" Hiei growled.

"Desperation," he answered with the same smile. "What were you guys talking about just now when I came in?" he asked changing the subject before Hiei could respond.

"Oh! It's our next mission!" Kuwabara went off. "It's going to be really cool. See there's this guy with an enchanted dinnerware…"

"It's a tuning fork, you idiot!" Yusuke interrupted him with a hard knock to the head. "It's not for eating, baka!"

"Fork smork!" Kuwabara yelled rubbing the lump on his head. "A fork is a fork even if you don't eat with it, Urameshi!"

"Well it's certainly not dinnerwa—where are you going Hiei?"

"Hn, if you think I'm sticking around listening to this moronic conversation, then you even stupider than I thought, which is an impressive feat. What are you laughing at, Kitsune?"

"Nothing, it's just that when you get mad, tendrils of smoke tend to form around your ears."

"They do not."

"Actually, shrimp, he's right."

"Hiei, you wanna not stop throttling Kuwabara till after the mission?"

A/N: That's right! It's the final, last, and concluding chapter, hurray! Thank you to all of my reviewers, because when I went back and reread this, I realized how much of my original concept had gotten lost. If the reviews hadn't come, I would not have finished; I would have hit the delete key. (still might) I left so much out of this that I wanted to put in and so I really don't like this one too much. Also as per usual, the ending is uber lame. Blame it on the turmoil in my life right now. Finally I am pretty settled into college life. I am also getting a ton more exposure to anime, for free! Maybe an Inuyasha fic, that's my newest obsession 


End file.
